I went to Scott's appointment today which allowed me to get his 2015 measurement. I hadn't gone last year and my wife didn't get an exact number. So I updated 2015 to 24 degrees from "unchanged". Although I'd love to see a smaller number I am extremely pleased with our results. His age 12 and age 13 X-rays looked identical to the naked eye and that's how they measured. As an aside I think my wife didn't tell me the exact number last year because she knows I would have worried.

Bid Data
Ok, maybe not Big Data, but it's been 8 years so lets look at the numbers so far. I realize there is a +/- 5 degree margin of error but for arguments sake lets assume the measurements were accurate.

From ages 5 to 7 we didn't do torso rotation because Scott was too small to fit in the machine
Over a 2 year period and after a few inches of growth Scott's curve progressed 7.6 degrees.

From ages 7 to 13 we did torso rotation
Over a 6 year period and after more than a foot of growth Scott's curve progressed 5.4 degrees.

Assuming the measurements were correct that's a noticeable difference especially because curves have a habit of progressing during growth and at an ever increasing rate.

I believe I learned something that might be helpful to other parents and kids.
Long story short when you're doing TRS work hard, don't go through the motions. Between ages 11 and 12 Scott went from 21 to 24 degrees. I have do admit that after several years of hard work and good results Scott and I had grown complacent. We weren't pushing as hard or even increasing weight by that much. We were more or less going through the motions. Somewhere around his 12th birthday Scott's interest in all types of strength training began to sprout. He started doing curls, presses, etc. etc. and we started pushing hard again. In addition we changed the way we he did his rotations. We increased his range of motion from 30 degrees to 60 degrees based on the ideas you can read about in this article. Range of motion: Full vs. Partial. Which is better when it comes to muscle size and strength? Research suggests that using an increased range of motion activates more muscle. Increased muscle is perhaps better for our purposes so were sticking with 60 degrees. I should note that twisting 60 degrees is much harder than twisting 30 degrees.

After 8 years of work I can see the finish line. Scott's spine will stop growing between his 16th and 17th birthday. So in a little over 3 years were done. What a relief. 8-) Thank you so much Dr. Vert Mooney and Dr. Kevin McIntire! Without your work Scott would likely be a pretzel by now. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

11-23-2016, 11:14 PM

Dingo

A small addendum.

At Scott's appointment I asked his Doctor, an Orthopedic surgeon that specializes in Scoliosis about curves that spontaneously reconcile.

He said these kids are extremely rare but he has seen them at his practice. I asked him if he had any idea what caused the improvement and he responded (paraphrasing), "I have no idea. We don't what causes Scoliosis so nobody knows what to look for in these kids. As of now it's a mystery."

What we're changing up this year.1) If you've been following recent headlines you might have noticed that scientists are connecting a plethora of diseases to nasty bacteria in the stomach. Interestingly enough Mother Nature thought it was a good idea to garrison 80% of our immune system in the gut. Is that just a coincidence or did evolution figure out where the worst threats come from and organize our defenses appropriately? Google microbiome and disease and decide for yourself. Anyway because the microbiome responds directly to diet we cut Scott off of all processed foods and sugar about a week ago. 2) More general purpose strength training. Bigger kids might have less progression.

See you next year!

12-11-2017, 06:42 PM

Dingo

Whole body vibration found to be an effective treatment for AIS

A just published German study found that a few minutes per day of whole body vibration appears to be an effective treatment for AIS. I ordered a machine on Amazon that costs a little less than $400 and we will be adding it to Scott's training.

Home-based vibration assisted exercise as a new treatment option for scoliosis - A randomised controlled trial.

J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact. 2017 Dec 1;17(4):259-267.

OBJECTIVES:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of scoliosis specific exercises (SSE) on a side-alternating whole body vibration platform (sWBV) as a home-training program in girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).

METHODS:
40 female AIS patients (10-17 years) wearing a brace were randomly assigned to two groups. The intervention was a six months, home-based, SSE program on a sWBV platform five times per week. Exercises included standing, sitting and kneeling. The control group received regular SSE (treatment as usual). The Cobb angle was measured at start and after six months. Onset of menarche was documented for sub-group analysis.

RESULTS:
The major curve in the sWBV group decreased significantly by -2.3° (SDą3.8) (95% CI -4.1 to -0.5; P=0.014) compared to the difference in the control group of 0.3° (SDą3.7) (95% CI -1.5 to 2.2; P=0.682) (P=0.035). In the sWBV group 20% (n=4) improved, 75% (n=15) stabilized and 5% (n=1) deteriorated by ≥5°. In the control group 0% (n=0) improved, 89% (n=16) stabilized and 11% (n=2) deteriorated. The clinically largest change was observed in the 'before-menarche' sub-group.

CONCLUSIONS:
Home-based SSE combined with sWBV for six months counteracts the progression of scoliosis in girls with AIS; the results were more obvious before the onset of the menarche.